36th INTERNATIONAL ISTANBUL BOOK FAIR CONTINUES

The Istanbul Book Fair, which celebrates its thirty-sixth year in 2017, was opened on Saturday, November 4 at 12.00, with the participations of the president of the Korean Publishers Association, Yoon Chul-Ho and Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş.

This year’s Guest of Honor is Korea, and the main theme is "Glad to Have You, Literature". Also, the Turkish writer Ayla Kutlu was chosen as the Writer of Honor at the 36th Istanbul Book Fair.

Korea, the Guest of Honor of the book fair, will host a number of events, at a stand of 252 square-meters, under the theme "The Two Ends of the Silk Road: Turkey and Korea", a reference to the relationship of the two countries that has started 60 years ago. Attending the book fair will be Korean writers whose titles have been or about to be translated to Turkish. Events will feature writers Ch’oe Yun (The Grey Snowman) and Kim Ae-ran, Son Hong-gyu, Lee Seong-Bok, Chun Yang Hee and Ahn Do-hyun (The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher) in addition to poets Chun Yang-hee and Lee Seong, whose poems have been translated to Turkish by translators in Erciyes University.

There will be panels, open sessions and interviews in which Ayla Kutlu, this year’s Writer of Honor, will participate. The fair also features a gift-book prepared for Ayla Kutlu and an exhibition entitled "Ayla Kutlu: The Writer of the Other Half of Humanity" that includes selected texts and photographs.

The 36th Istanbul Book Fair welcomes 18 international writers and guests from abroad this year. Bettany Hughes (England), with whom the Turkish readers are familiar, through his work on Istanbul history; journalist-writer Teresita Candia Ferreyra (Cuba) and his husband, writer Fabián Escalante Font (who was with Fidel Castro until his last days); Carlos Granes, one of the most important writers of Colombia; children’s books writers Margriet Ruurs (Holland) and Dmitry Glukhovsky (Russia) are among the guest writers.

Attended by 820 publishing houses and non-governmental organizations from home and abroad, the Istanbul Book Fair can be visited from 10.00-19.00 on weekdays and 10.00-20.00 on weekends at TUYAP Fair and Congress Center.